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The music industry is known more for stifling technology innovation than adopting it (cough*Napster *cough) which makes it especially gratifying to see recent attempts to harness augmented reality for music lovers (and/or nerds).

Here are my Top 10 augmented reality projects created by the music industry:

10) StudioB, Adobe and John Mayer “AR video clip”

“Studio B teamed with Adobe and John Mayer to create the worlds first Augmented Reality music video. Studio B shot and keyed the green screen footage using the new Apple ProRes 444 codec. I’m holding up a piece of paper with the designated marker (in this case a broken heart), and the video of John Mayer follows it around the screen, and even tilts in 3D space!”

It’s impressive to see a major music figure dedicating his time for an AR app – but is this significantly more interesting than just watching this 3D video on your PC?

Can’t really see the AR interaction in this video, but hearing Rihana say “Augmented Reality” is worth it.

“To view “Who’s That Chick” by Rihanna in full, simply buy a bag of Doritos Late Night and got to http://www.doritoslatenight.com
Using special packs of Doritos Late Night chips and a web cam, you can unlock an augmented reality experience with Rihanna.”

Triggering the experience from a consumer package is cool (no more printed markers!)

7) Kit-Kat and Scouting For Girls music

“Scouting For Girls – Augmented Reality with Kit Kat. If you open up a Kit Kat, do you see the augmented reality of Scouting for girls? Do the She’s So Lovely Stars really play in there? Join Scouting For Girls here to find out. Or, visit http://www.kitkat.co.uk/musicbreak“

Yet another music video triggered from a consumer package (Kit-Kat) – this time it’s more mindful to the new medium.

6) Eminem augmented reality competition by Polydor Records

“To take part all you need is a printer and a webcam – then, using the graffiti tools on the entry page, customize your very own 3D rotating Eminem “E” logo.”

“…enter the amazing Eminem augmented reality competition and you could win the trip of a lifetime to visit Em’s home town of Detroit”

Although not an AR music experience per se (more of a graffiti experience)- it’s definitely encouraging fans to interact with their idol in a new way. Talk about high profile motivation.

4) Music mixer with 5Gum

“Truly interactive Augmented Reality Application. Log on to http://www.5gum.fr to record your mix.”

Making music with an augmented reality interface is a cause for celebration.

3) Aphex twin overlay on Audience faces

“At this weekend London Electronic Festival (LED) Aphex Twin used live facial recognition to map the audience and overlay images of his own, trademark distorted face. Mesmerising and disturbing in equal measure! “

This is one of these things that had to be done. And they did it – beautiful!

2) Lost Valentinos customizable video clip with AR

“Innovative Sydney band Lost Valentinos and label etcetc have pushed an emerging technology to the very limit by launching the world’s first truly interactive augmented reality music video project. The project allows fans to record their own customised music videos for the single ‘Nightmoves’ by capturing band members performing the track in the fan’s own world. From lead singer Nik performing the song atop a user’s shoulders, to the whole band playing the song at the base of the Eiffel Tower – it’s a project limited only by the imagination.”

Record your own video clip with AR? Can’t get much better than that!

1) Black Eyed Peas 360

The most impressive use of AR in the music industry so far and the reason behind this post:

“App review: The New ‘BEP360‘ App for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch Takes Fans Inside ‘The Time (Dirty Bit)’ with 360-Degree Motion Control and Augmented Reality app Developed by Peas Front Man will.i.am”

Edo Segal, from Futurity and a good friend – is behind this initiative that attempts to redefine how we experience music.

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Didn’t make the list:

Voodoo Experience by Zehnder with Layar Augmented Reality browser (meant to enhance the concert experience – not to deliver a new way to experience music which is the focus of this post)

Exile on Your Street – an AR app for Rolling Stones fans – built on Layar – it enables you to leave Rolling Stones posters at your current location.
Each poster can be customized with a track from Exile on Main Street and a personal message (no visual reference found)

Sean Kingston: printing a special icon in the CD booklet for his album, which gave users access to the special AR section of his website. They could then sing along into their webcams to Sean’s Fire Burning track, with an animated version of the star appearing to dance around them. There were sharing elements here, too – the resulting videos could be posted on social networks or shared on the main site. (via Music Ally)

Ok, that’s cool. But grab any music industry executive that gets it, and you’ll hear that the true value of AR doesn’t lie in helping promote music (the industry is pretty good at marketing music as is), but in creating new experiences, new products which will lead to new revenue streams (think Guitar Hero). The sober realization is that it’s unlikely people will buy more music than they already do – but they are likely to want to experience music in new ways, and through new channels.

What will it look like?

How would you like to experience your favorite band in the real world (AR style)?

If you are still contemplating whether to go – check out what you might be missing on our preview post.

The folks from the Visual Media Lab at Ben Gurion University in collaboration with HIT Lab NZ are preparing a real treat for ISMAR 2009 participants.

Sketch recognition (already covered in our previous post) is a major break away from “ugly” markers or NFT (tracking natural 2d images). It is the dawn of user generated content for Augmented Reality, and an intuitive new interaction approach for changing the CONTENT overlaid on a marker. Big wow.

In-Place 3D Sketching

But the team lead by Nate Hagbi and Oriel Bergig (with support from Jihad El-Sana and Mark Billinghurst) is just warming up…In the next video Nate shows how any sketch you draw on a paper (or even on your hand!) can be tracked.

So are you telling me I won’t need to print stuff every time I want to play with augmented reality?
-That’s right! Hug a tree and save some ink!

Shape Recognition and Pose Estimation

But wait, there is more!

Nate says this demo already runs on an iPhone.

And to prove it, he is willing to share the code used to access the live video on iPhone 3.0.(note: this code accesses a private API on the iPhone SDK)

Ready for the BIG NEWS?

For the first time ever, the core code necessary for real augmented reality “(real” here means precise alignment of graphics overlaid on real life objects) on iPhone 3.0 is available to the public.

This stunning “Jakomini” demo from Graz University – the masters of handheld Augmented Reality – shows a 3D city model being tracked on a “natural feature” surface (or in plain language – a regular bird’s view image of a city)

Two things that I like about the Augmented Reality community are the spirit of creativity and the spirit of sharing.

From the Tellart website

This letter from Mike Clare embodies these 2 traits:

This summer I worked on a number AR projects while interning at Tellart in Providence RI. On my last day I thought I would bring in something to show my appreciation to my co-workers for having me as their intern. What better way than batch of home made AR marker cookies that would display Tellart’s logo?

Vodpod videos no longer available.

In addition, Mike has prepared a tutorial so that others could try making them at home.

They gave you wings, extreme sports races, and Flugtag – and now they want to save print magazines with the bold concept: Print 2.0.

Guess which one of these is a true fact?
1) In 2006, more than 3 billion cans of Red Bull were sold in over 130 countries

2) Red Bull publishes a printed magazine (2 million copies per issue)

3) Red Bull is an Austrian company

Answer: all of the above!
Can’t say which fact is more shocking, but they certainly explain why Red Bull decided to partner with Imagination (an Austrian company) to create a webcam augmented reality experience where:

This magazine sings, dances, flies and even scores a touchdown…

The cover and multiple pages (any page with the Bull’s eye) can be activated by pointing to a webcam thanks to Imagination’s natural feature tracking software.

If you don’t have the printed magazine – don’t worry – you can download and print at home.

Or just watch it here…

The magazine editor dives into more autophilia:

PRINT GOES LIVE

It’s not often that a magazine can call itself revolutionary, but we’re delighted to say this one can.

This very issue of The Red Bulletin takes us from print to Print 2.0, thanks to the incorporation of some nifty software known as ‘augmented reality’…the fun stuff is this: simply by holding the mag up to a computer you can take it ‘beyond the page’ and into the world-wide web. So, for example…[the cover] will link through to a video package explaining exactly how augmented reality can enhance your reading experience in a way you almost certainly never imagined, with music, ﬁlm, animations and more.
Then turn to page 5 and Red Bull Air Race ace Paul Bonhomme will give you an ‘as live’ introduction to the magazine and the world of augmented reality. Head to our Now and Next pages, ﬁnd the story about Black Gold on page 20 and do the same again with the mag. Lo, you’ll
ﬁnd the band’s latest video on the website. Clever, eh?
Further in, you can read about Burcu Cetinkaya and Cicek Güney – the girls putting the glam into rallying – then link to exclusive interviews with them and videos of them driving ﬂat-out… and crashing!
And we’re not done yet, no way. Our Reggie Bush cover story, on page 48, combines with an exclusive mini-movie of Reggie at home, as he talks to correspondent Jan Cremer, while page 62 will take you right into the pocket-rocket world of the Red Bull Rookie motorbike racers.
No other magazine has ever tried anything like this, and we have plenty more ideas for the future. But for now, just get your magazine and computer primed and prepare to be amazed…